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TitleNews Online Archive

SANTA BARBARA, Calif., October 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Fidelity National Information Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: FNIS - News), a comprehensive source for real estate-related data, technology solutions and services, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Eastern Financial Systems, Inc. ("Eastern"), an industry leading mortgage loan origination software system provider. The transaction is expected to close by the end of October.

Eastern's flagship product, EMPOWER!, provides the systems and support that enable mortgage and lending customers to meet and exceed their technology objectives through streamlined processes and increased operating efficiency. EMPOWER! has an installed base of 24 of the top two hundred mortgage lenders. Over the last 12 months, EMPOWER! has been selected by four of the top fifty and ten of the top two hundred mortgage lenders. Eastern generates additional recurring revenue through both support and maintenance agreements, as well as technology consulting services. For the twelve-month period ending September 30, 2002, Eastern generated $18.5 million of revenue and $7.9 million of pre-tax income. Over the last three years, Eastern has produced compounded average revenue growth in excess of 30%. The acquisition is expected to be immediately accretive to earnings.

"Eastern provides FNIS with a tremendous technology and services offering for facilitating a more efficient real estate process," said Patrick F. Stone, Chief Executive Officer. "We can integrate the loan origination platform with our mortgage data products, providing single point access and consistent routing of data. This moves us another step closer to offering more complete data exchange and technical integration between the sales, mortgage lending and settlement service processes of a real estate transaction. We are also excited that the Eastern management and customer care team will continue to manage the operation as a part of the FNIS team."

Joseph P. Delaney, Eastern's President and Chief Executive Officer said, "The combination of Eastern and FNIS creates the perfect marriage of technology and services necessary to enable a single front to back solution for all of a lender's real estate financing needs."